January 15 – March 19, 2016
David Ireland (1930-2009) is best-known for his home at 500 Capp Street, which he embedded with art and slowly transformed into a site-specific installation now regarded as the inspiration, source of materials, and repository for some of his most important work. Following a meticulous two-year restoration effort, visitors to the David Ireland House will be able to experience the late artist’s enigmatic home as he intended, immersing themselves in a 360-degree portrait of this important West Coast conceptual artist.
500 Capp Street’s inaugural exhibition, David Ireland’s House, introduced visitors to Ireland’s art-as-life practice and highlights the newly restored house itself as his greatest artwork. The presentation featured a focused selection of the artist’s most iconic sculptures, drawings, and hand-made furniture, along with ephemera, photographs, and other objects from the home’s 3,000-piece collection. David Ireland’s House, on view January 15 through March 19, 2016, occupied all the exhibition spaces in the home, including the main two floors of Ireland’s living quarters, as well as two new multi-usspaces: the structure’s converted “Accordion Shop” (a room used by the home’s previous owner for his accordion-making business) and the “Garage” (a new exhibition space created in the home’s former car port).
500 Capp Street Foundation Executive Director Carlie Wilmans notes: “While Ireland typically lived surrounded by a substantial, ever-changing number of artworks, the opening installation brings forward his most important pieces, evoking a feeling of lightness and minimalism that not only encourages visitors to explore and look closely, but also highlights the fascinating interior surfaces of the home itself, which reveal traces of the artist’s hand.”